Another Year
An essay by Ann Patchett
2012 / 16 Pages
Written by Ann Patchett, Another Year is a short piece of nonfiction that was given away exclusively by Kobo Books to folks who had purchased at least one item from them in the 2012 calendar year. In it, the State of Wonder author trains her probing, thoughtful eye on our need to ritualize the start of the New Year as our opportunity for a clean slate. She questions the weight of value of placed on traditions and asks what exactly it takes to make something feel sacred.
What she ends up delivering is highly inspirational piece that blends personal experience, humorous anecdotes-the one about the physicists who try to fix her broken doorbell is especially delightful-and practical advice together to remind the reader that they don’t need January 1st, or Lent, or any other ritualized holiday to roll around in order to sieze the opportunity to better themselves.
Patchett’s welcome message of hope bursts through the frustration we often feel when we fail at our resolutions and offers us a way forward. Change starts when you say it does. Pick a date, circle it on the calendar, do whatever to make it sacred to you. If you stumble, if you fall, pick yourself up, pick another date, and start again. As long as you’re alive you can continue the pursuit of becoming the person you want to be.
